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Hello everyone,

The Jr. Iron Chef Challenge, held last Thursday at the elementary school, was a great success! This was truly a “Seed to Plate” event, with students planning and preparing recipes utilizing Kid Garden produce planted and harvested by our students. Each class had a hand in preparing one of the six submitted recipes, and everyone in the school was able to taste a sample. The recipes included,

Kindergarten’s Garden Cheese Balls
First Grade’s Zucchini Bread
Second Grade’s Pumpkin Bread Pudding
Third Grade’s Pesto Pasta
Fourth Grade’s Vegetable and Bean Salad
Fifth Grade’s Morrocan Carrot Orange Salad

All of the recipe’s were delicious and the students were enthusiastic about trying new foods. It was a memorable day of cooperation, sharing, and new experiences for the school community.

Thank you to the many volunteers who were able to help during this event, as well as the ongoing programs this fall:

Nancy Morris
Stephanie Nolan
Rebecca Weil
Kim Jastremski
Lisa Mooney
Erika Idelson
Maureen Schuermann
Jen Amsden

Thank you also to the PTO for their donation of the proceeds form the Pumpkin Patch Sale last Wednesday. Despite rainy weather, we were able to sell the remaining 200 hundred pumpkins from Pumpkin Fest.

Finally,
Thank you to the fifth grade volunteers who enthusiastically sold all of the remaining Kid Garden Produce and donated items at our one Kid Garden Market. Due to an overwhelming response, we are sold out and will not have another market this fall. See you in 2011!

Our season is quickly coming to a close. This week during recess students will learn how to put a garden “to bed” for the winter.

The FALL WORK DAY is this Sunday, OCTOBER 17th at 9:00 am. We will finish closing the garden.
If you are able to give your time this Sunday, please let me know.

Thank you for all that you do for this important program.
Sincerely,

Kristen

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Kid Garden Families,

We are busily preparing for upcoming Kid Garden events. This coming week will bring the first of two Kid Garden Markets,to be held on Wednesday, Sept. 29th from 2pm through dismissal. The public is welcome and encouraged to stop in. We will offer Kid Garden produce including; Garlic, onions, pumpkins, beets, salad greens, flowers, dried herbs, handmade herbal tea bags, donated jams, jellies, preserves, and farm fresh eggs. For those of you who arranged to make donations of any of these items, they can be dropped off in the garden shed by the end of school on Tuesday, Sept. 28th.

Cooperstown Elementary School will hold the “Jr. Iron Chef Challenge on Thursday, October 7th. This event is a culmination of growing, harvesting, and preparing produce from the Kid Garden. Each Grade level will prepare their recipe for all students and staff to sample. Several recipes will require ingredients that we cannot harvest from Kid Garden. We are looking for;

5 dozen eggs,
5 pounds of carrots
6 large zucchini
1 dozen ears of corn.

If you have extra of these items from your farm or garden, they can be dropped off at the Kid Garden Shed by Monday, October 4th. Your donation is greatly appreciated.

Lastly, We will hold a Fall Clean Up work day on Sunday, October 17th from 10am-12pm. There will be several tasks to accomplish and many hands make light work, so please join us if you can.

Thank you for all that you do for the Kid Garden Program.

Sincerely,

Kristen

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Hi everyone,
This coming Thursday, 9/16, is shaping up to be a busy day. We will be interviewed by Upstate Life Magazine at 12:00, have Open Recess between 11:30-1:30, have a Fourth Grade flower dissection activity at 1:45-2:35, and our weekly harvest and produce prep for Friday’s salad from 1:30-2:30.

I can use all the help I can get to pull this off. Anyone who is interested in volunteering this Thursday,please let me know.

Thanks,
Kristen

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Dear Kid Garden Families,

Thank you to everyone who attended the work day picnic and meeting. Thanks to your efforts we were able to clean up the garden for the students and teachers to enjoy this fall.

I would like to share the fall programming schedule with you. There will be a need for volunteers for each of these events or ongoing programs. If you feel that you can help out, please let me know.

SEPTEMBER:

Open recess days are Tuesday and Thursday from 11:30-1:30. The students are welcome to spend time in the garden during recess.This is a time for free exploration, harvesting if needed, and activities, if planned.  These days are weather dependent. Heavy rain means that the garden will be closed.

We will begin to planning for the 5th grade run Kid Garden Market. Any handmade items ie: jams, baked goods, soaps, eggs, honey, etc. may be donated. to sell. This market will be held in the garden at 2pm to serve parents, teachers, and greater community. All proceeds will go back to the program.

RECESS ACTIVITES

Tuesdays are activity Days.

Thursdays are Harvest days for the Friday salad served in the cafeteria. Volunteers are needed from 1:30-2:30 PM to prep the produce for the cooler.

Sept 7: Harvest herbs for drying

Sept 9: Harvest Vegetables for Friday salad

Sept 14: Planting Cover crops and Garlic

Sept 16: Harvest

Sept 21: Making herbal teas

Sept 23: Harvest

Sept 28: Activity TBA

Sept 29: Kid Garden Market 2pm (run by 5th graders with help from adults)

Sept 30: Harvest, Kid Garden Market 2pm

OTHER DATES

Kindergarten and 1st grade garden story time in Kid Garden TBA. Volunteer readers are welcome.

4th grade plant science flower dissection in Kid Garden TBA. Volunteers are welcome.

OCTOBER

We will be involved in the school wide JR. IRON CHEF CONTEST. Each grade will submit a recipe that uses produce from Kid Garden. With the help of guest chefs, the students will prepare their recipe to be tasted by the whole school on the contest day. For this event, we will need to form a committee to work with Jenna Bartow (4th grade teacher who received the grant for this program) to prepare for this event.

RECESS ACTIVITES

October 5: Seed Collection and saving

October 7: Seed Collection and saving

October 12: putting the garden to bed for winter

October 13: (?) Kid Garden Market 2pm

October 14: Putting the garden to bed for winter, (?) Kid Garden Market 2pm

OTHER DATES

October 8: JR. IRON CHEF CONTEST

October 15 (?) Guest Chef prepares lunch for school

October 17: (sunday) FALL work day to close the garden

VOLUNTEER SUMMARY

Please let me know if you are interested in the following volunteer positions:

• Recess time ( any time you can give on Tuesdays and/or Thursdays 11:30-1:30)
• Kid Garden Market Sept 29-30, October 13-14, 1-3pm for set up, sale, break down)
• Harvest prep for Friday salads Thursdays 1:30-2:30
• JR. IRON CHEF Committee, ongoing planning Sept 7-October 8th.
• Leadership roles for Kid Garden Committee to take part in planning and running the overall Kid Garden program.

Thank you for all that you do for this important program!

Sincerely,

Kristen

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KID GARDEN
Annual Open House and Fundraiser

Sunday May 23, 2010

10am-2pm in KID GARDEN

Featured sale items include:

• Kid Garden Seedlings: Pie Pumpkins, cucumbers, sun gold tomatoes, lettuces
• Perennials
• Kid Garden shirts
• Vendors selling farm fresh items
• Food and drinks

Also:

Kid’s Activity Tables

Information on:

• local CSA programs
• Sustainable living

COME JOIN THE FUN!!!

We are looking for Volunteers. Please let me know if you are available…

*

Bake sale donation items for this fundraiser. If you are able to donate a dozen or more of your specialty it would be greatly appreciated!
*

Volunteers to run sale and activity tables from 10:00-12:00 and 12:00-2:00.

Thank you !

Kristen

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Hello Everyone,
I hope your first days of summer are going well.
I have included a calendar of work days for garden care this summer. It is a pretty full schedule but please feel free to share a day with someone or come on an unscheduled day. If your scheduled day is not convienient, please let me know and I will accomodate you.
Tasks that need to be completed include:
Weeding
Watering (hose cart &sprinkler in the shed, spigot on the school wall along side walk. You must use the “key” to turn on and off water)
mowing ( with the mower in the shed)
Harvesting (keep what you want, bag and donate the rest to the food bank)
checking for any problems
turn compost
* call or email me with questions

Thank you for donating your time!
Sincerely,
Kristen

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3 Year Crop Rotation for Cooperstown Kid Garden

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Layout of Cooperstown Kid Garden